Red Sox fans received another reminder Thursday that the future is bright in Boston.
Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada has been the subject of plenty of hype since he signed a lucrative minor league contract with the Red Sox in February. Apparently that hype hasn’t died down, as the 20-year-old landed on the latest cover of popular baseball magazine “Baseball America.”
Moncada spent the entire 2015 campaign with the Single-A Greenville Drive and got off to a bit of a slow start, taking a .229/.311/.321 slash line into the month of July. But the switch-hitting infielder quickly picked things up after that, hitting .310/.415/.500 after Greenville’s All-Star break and finishing the season with a respectable .278/.380/.438 line. He also led the team with 49 steals in 81 games.
“Baseball America” saw enough good things out of Moncada to name him the No. 1 prospect in the South Atlantic League, but his teammates gave him plenty of company on the list. The Drive placed four prospects in the magazine’s top 10, with shortstop Javier Guerra ranking No. 4, third baseman Rafael Devers at No. 5 and pitcher Michael Kopech coming in at No. 10.
The Red Sox likely will be patient with Moncada, who turned 20 in May. But it appears he’s right on track to live up to the organization’s lofty expectations.
